Hazelleaf's Doubt
by Stormyy Cat
Summary: *YES WE'RE ALIVE READ THE AUTHOR'S NOTE :D* One-shot, Hazelleaf houses some doubts about the three kits...


**(three time's the charm as I come back to edit this doc for a third time)**

 _Third time Stormy, third time. (This is Silver)_

 **Umm...**

 **Now I know what Hollyleaf felt like...**

 **Anyway, we're alive! Blame school and my obsession with joining every MAP I can find for our absence.**

 **Well, technically my absence, who knows what's holding Silver and Willow up? Actually, it's probably the same things, except for the 'joining every MAP I can find thing'**

 _I don't really go on Fanfiction because I honestly have no role here. TST's been abandoned and I have no motivation in writing._

 **Also, I switched some stuff around. In my version, the three _know_ they're not clan-born, and Whisperkit has a brother named Lakekit. I think he's Lakepaw in the old version. Idek :P**

 **So ya :P**

 **\- Storm (duh can't you tell by the bold? then again, bold is heck a hard to see here -_-)**

* * *

Ashwhisker wrapped her tail around her, her piercing green eyes looking at her kits. Stormkit, Silverkit, and Willowkit were knocking a mossball around. It soared above Stormkit's head, but Willowkit knocked it back to Silverkit. She leapt up and slammed her paw against the moss, sending it flying over both their heads. "I win again!" she exclaimed. Stormkit opened her mouth to retort.

"And you can't complain because you had Willowkit on your side too!"

Stormkit lashed her tiny tail, before cheering up once more. "Best out of 10?" she exclaimed hopefully.

Lakekit poked at his own ball of moss, forgotten by the others. Ashwhisker noticed this. "Hey, girls! Can you let Lakekit in?" she called out to them. Stormkit and Silverkit stopped in their playfight over who gets to start with the mossball, and sighed. Willowkit rolled her ferny eyes. Ashwhisker glared at them to let them know it wasn't a question.

Willowkit sighed. "Fine, come on Lakekit!" she exclaimed with false excitement. Lakekit leapt up, his brown eyes wide with excitement, and bounced over to Silverkit's side. "Ok, who's gonna start!" he exclaimed. The three sisters looked at each other for awhile.

Silverkit nudged the mossball towards them. "Here, you can start because I won last time." She flicked her ear to Lakekit.

Ashwhisker bit her lip. Before she had time to scold them for their unsaid hostility to Lakekit, who seemed to notice it all with a sharp glare, Swanpaw appeared at the nursery entrance. "Umm… Ashwhisker? Hazelleaf wants to see you."

"Why? Is any of the kits sick?"

"No, you'll see," she said, leaping away towards the elders den.

Ashwhisker stood up, and suddenly Lakekit's gaze was fixed on her. She walked to the four kits. "Ok, I need to talk with Hazelleaf for a second. Stay here, and do not move," she stressed, and the kits seemed to realize it. Stormkit stood up straighter. "Ok!" she exclaimed, her amber eyes narrowed with importance. Ashwhisker laughed, before turning around to go to the medicine cat's den.

Ashwhisker padded to Hazelleaf, who was watching outside the den. Sudden self-consciousness hit her like a blow to the face. She had unfairly accused her of killing Whisperkit once, and though she regretted her previous words, she wasn't sure if she had forgotten. She stopped in front of the entrance, Hazelleaf's leaf-green eyes piercing her.

"Umm, hello Hazelleaf. Did you need me?" she said, looking at the floor. She turned her gaze towards the four kits, who were passing the mossball between them, looking quite bored. Hazelleaf stood up. "We need to talk inside," she said, her gaze on the kits. They looked at each other, wondering what they did wrong. Ashwhisker stood in front of her, blocking her gaze on the kits. Her fur bristled.

"Anyway, inside," she said, turning around and walking into the depths of the medicine cat den. Ashwhisker followed. She remembered a time when she was an apprentice visiting the Moonstone. The cave smelled of stars, cold and sharp, like the stone beneath her paws. She remembered the fear that sent her breath racing that she'd get lost, separated by Berrypaw and Lightpaw and Duckpaw in this weird cave of the ancestors.

She felt a similar fear here. She had no idea the den went so deep, and there was barely any light except for a dull glow of the sunlight outside trying to get in. In this abyss of hazy darkness, she could only hear Hazelleaf's paws drumming against the patches of dirt that laid scattered around. She wondered how she worked in the darkness.

Her question was answered as Hazelleaf suddenly leapt up, and with a flash of claws, sunlight shone through a hole in the ceiling. She looked down on Hazelleaf's claws and saw some moss. "Why do you keep it so dark?"

"You do realize the only place I _can_ get light is when it falls on the herbs. I can't afford to waste precious herbs on sunlight," she pointed out, flicking her tail to the shelves of various herbs she couldn't recognize, the sunlight bathing them with golden. Ashwhisker sat down on a moss bed. "What did you want?" she said, changing the topic.

Hazelleaf settled herself on a mossy bed, then started. "Those kits, Stormkit, Silverkit and Willowkit. They're rogues right?"

Ashwhisker bristled. "They were rogues. Now they're my kits. Why do you ask?" _Is she trying to pick a fight with me?_

Hazelleaf flicked her ear. "Do you think it's a bit… suspicious?"

Ashwhisker glared at her. "What do you mean?"

"You lost a kit that day, and suddenly, you find three more. Isn't it too much of a coincidence? What if the mother set this up?"

"The mother is dead. I found her body mauled by foxes."

"What about the father? What if he's using the kits as a reason to attack?"

"Are you saying I should _disown_ them?" Ashwhisker hissed, leaping up. Hazelleaf stared back. For a moment, it was silent from both sides. Two pairs of green eyes glared back at each other, challenging the other to might a move.

Something bumped against the herbs, knocking them over. Hazelleaf's green eyes widened. "Who goes there?" she hissed, her green eyes scanning the darkened den. Nothing moved. She sighed, muttering something about the wind, and left to put the herbs back. Ashwhisker noticed she still had an eye on whatever knocked her herbs down. "Relax, it was just the wind, you said so yourself," she said, calmly down. Hazelleaf obviously didn't want this conversation overheard.

Hazelleaf sat back down. "What if someone's planning this all out? What if someone's just waiting for the Clan to get at it's weakest, and then strike? The kits will be enough reason…"

"So you expect me to dump 5-moon old kits with no training in the forest forever and carry the guilt of leaving them to die all because of some what if?" Ashwhisker lashed her tail, as she stood up.

"Yes."

"Well you're wrong!" Ashwhisker hissed, glaring thorns at her as she stalked out of the medicine cat den. "You don't understand! You've never loved a cat as much as a warrior would a love a mate or their kits! I already lost one kit, and I'm not gonna lose anymore if I can help it!"


End file.
